


Lost in the Corn

by Cerberus38



Series: Huxloween (2016) [3]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, I tried not to go too heavy or detailed with it but it is still there, Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, decent amount of it really, everybody must hold the Idiot Ball at least once
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-19 22:02:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8226152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerberus38/pseuds/Cerberus38
Summary: A jaunt in an abandoned corn maze goes horribly, horribly wrong. Even worse (depending on who you ask), Mitaka may be their only chance at survival. (Huxloween prompt 3: Meta Horror)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Confession time: I don't really watch horror movies. The excessive blood and gore in the majority of them really turns me off. Which kind of sucks, because _Cabin in the Woods_ looked like a lot of fun. Anyway, I hope I got the 'meta horror' aspect right, because this was a really challenging prompt to write for. Really, I just wanted to write something involving a corn maze. Kind of surprised that wasn't one of the prompts!
> 
> Crossposted to my writing blog, cerberuswrites.tumblr.com

It was a dark and stormy night.

No, really, it was. It was the main reason why a group of amateur filmmakers had holed up in their warehouse/production studio, huddled around a computer while they discussed their next move.

“Our last video did really well, though—I’m telling you, we’ve got something good going with the ‘Hunting the Hauntings’ series,” the young man seated at the computer said, reaching up to brush a stray lock of black hair away from his eyes.

“Remember, Kylo, all those ‘hauntings’ we looked at were fake,” said the redhead standing next to him. He turned and found himself staring at the chest (and arms) of the tallest female he knew. He looked up, eyebrow raised.

“Please move, Phasma, I’m feeling claustrophobic.”

She merely chuckled and stepped aside, allowing him to step out of the cluster of bodies.

“So what are you saying?” he continued, as if nothing had happened. “We should look into another haunting?”

“Why not?” Kylo replied with a shrug. “People seem to love it, even if they are fake. And it’s October! It’s practically required!”

“We could do a corn maze,” Phasma suggested. “We haven’t done one of those yet. Maybe arrange it where we can pull an all-nighter.”

“Ooh, I like that!” Kylo replied, turning back to the computer and starting up a search for available corn mazes in the area. He scrolled past the more popular ones, seemingly looking for something in particular.

Something scary, no doubt.

“Hey, Hux, what about this one?” Kylo asked after a few minutes of silent browsing. Hux went back over to the computer; Phasma stepped aside to allow him to look over Kylo’s shoulder clearly.

“What is it?” Hux asked, looking at the pictures as Kylo scrolled through them. There didn’t seem to be a lot of information.

“Abandoned corn maze,” Kylo replied with a grin. “Says it’s been unused for years. Rumor has it someone died in it.” His voice took on a dramatic tone, as if he were telling a ghost story.

The man at Kylo’s other side whimpered, but it went ignored.

“Oh, this would be perfect,” Kylo said, hitting the bottom of the page. “The maze and the farmhouse nearby are both abandoned, so we can easily pull an all-nighter without having to make too many arrangements. And if this map is accurate, then it’s nice and remote—perfect for filming a creepy Halloween special!”

“No, no, bad idea!” Everyone turned to look over at Mitaka, eyebrows collectively raised. This wasn’t the first time he’d objected to one of their ideas—in fact, he’d objected to every ‘Hauntings’ idea they’d come up with.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you were Mitaka), majority vote usually won out.

“Alright, what is it now, Dopheld?” Phasma asked, a hint of affectionate exasperation in her voice.

“Don’t you people ever watch horror movies? Going to some remote, abandoned place is just asking for trouble! And just look at it! It’s creepy!”

“’Phel, it’s just a corn maze,” Phasma reminded him.

“Yeah, a corn maze perfectly capable of hiding something nasty…”

“Like what, a dead body?”

Mitaka gave Phasma a disapproving look. He may have been jumpy and easily frightened, but he was not stupid, and he most certainly knew when he was being made fun of.

“I think it’s perfect,” Hux cut in. “We should get some great nighttime footage from this. We’ll take Chewie with us.” At the sound of his name, the old dog raised his head.

“No, don’t take the dog, the dog always dies!” Mitaka put in. It was no secret that he hated seeing animals—dogs especially—kick the bucket in movies.

“He’s an old man dog anyway,” Kylo said, waving a hand dismissively. “We’ll let him be comfortable here. Besides, someone needs to hold down the fort while we’re gone.”

Chewie let out a huff and laid his head back down, giving Kylo in particular a pointed look before he went back to sleep again.

“Don’t give me that look, fuzzball.”

“I still feel uneasy about this…” Mitaka said, side-eyeing the pictures of the corn maze still up on the screen.

“Bah, there’s nothing to worry about!” Kylo replied, clapping a hand down onto Mitaka’s shoulder, earning himself a pained yelp. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Mitaka groaned and rubbed at his throbbing shoulder, giving Kylo a long-suffering look. “Why did you have to say that? Now you’ve jinxed it!”

“What’s to jinx?” Hux asked, taking a closer look at the pictures as well. “It’s just corn, and dried corn at that, from the looks of things. We’ll hear anything approaching long before it reaches us.”

“You watch too many horror movies, ‘Phel,” Phasma said with a chuckle, heading into the kitchen to grab something to drink. As always, these ‘brainstorming’ sessions took longer than was really necessary, but at least it was entertaining to watch the guys bicker and snip at each other.

“For good reason! I know everything you’re not supposed to do, like split up, or fall asleep, or bring along an injured companion, or have sex, because sex equals death…” Mitaka began rattling off an entire laundry list of _Things You Should Not do in a Horror Movie_ , but his friends had already long ago tuned him out.

“So is ‘don’t enter old corn mazes’ one of those things?” Hux asked, cutting into his list. Mitaka pouted at him.

“Well, I don’t exactly have a frame of reference for a corn maze…”

“Great!” Kylo said triumphantly. “We’ll be the first—bold pioneers blazing a new trail! Horror movie directors will one day look back on our footage for inspiration!”

“Yeah, because we all died grisly deaths…”

“What was that about ‘don’t jinx it’?” Hux asked, Cheshire grin threatening to split his face. Mitaka glared at him and Hux laughed, causing the other man to huff and take his leave.

“So, have we decided when we’re actually going, or are we still arguing over tired old horror tropes?” Phasma asked as she walked back into the room, beer in hand.

“We can go this weekend,” Kylo suggested. “That’ll give us enough time to call our camera crew and prepare.”

“That works,” Hux agreed with a nod. “It’ll give us a few days to spread the word on social media, hype up the video a bit.”

“And listen to Mitaka whine about how much of a bad idea this is. Again,” Kylo added with a chuckle.

“Be nice,” Phasma warned him, giving him a dangerous look.

“What, I’m a nice guy!”

Hux and Phasma both snorted; even Chewie let out a gruff ‘wuff!’ in agreement.

“You all suck,” Kylo pouted, turning back to the computer, bookmarking the corn maze’s page for later.

 

Getting to the corn maze, however, proved to be a challenge in and of itself. The address given on the website wasn’t reliable, and there was no phone number to call—not that that would’ve worked anyway, as Mitaka was quick to point out. Kylo’s attempts at prodding Google Maps proved futile as well. Even inputting the provided address into the GPS was no good.

“See, this is a sign!” Mitaka hissed as Kylo grumbled curses at the computer, at Google Maps, at anything that failed to give them reliable directions they could follow. “Bad things always happen off the grid!”

He received no response from the other three.

“Well, I’ve tried every map source I know and nothing,” Kylo said, pushing away from the computer before he did something he’d later regret.

“What about some of your father’s old contacts? Surely one of them knows something,” Hux suggested. Kylo shot him a displeased look. Everyone knew about his contentious relationship with his father, and none dared to bring it up—except Hux, apparently.

“He might have a point…” Phasma agreed, getting the same look from Kylo.

“Then you two can go and talk to them, but leave me out of it.”

“Names, Kylo,” Hux huffed. “We need names; we can’t just go asking every random old person in town for suggestions.”

“Fine. You want someone who knows everyone and what they had for breakfast every day for the past twenty-five years? Talk to Maz Kanata.”

“What, the old crone who runs the bar on Main?” Phasma asked, sounding surprised.

“Yeah. She’s lived here forever—and man, does she look it. She knows everyone and everything in this town—even if she doesn’t know how to get there, she’ll probably know someone who does. But like I said, you two can go—I’ll stay right here, thank you very much.”

“Alright,” Phasma said with a shrug. “Come on, Hux, let’s go.”

“Wait a minute, I didn’t volunteer for this!” Hux protested.

“Yes, you did,” Kylo replied with a mischievous grin. “You were the one who suggested my old man’s contacts. You’ll love Kanata, trust me.”

“That makes me want to do the opposite every time you say that, Kylo.”

“Hux, don’t make me drag you,” Phasma threatened.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming…” Hux grumbled.

“You didn’t sound so upset about it last night…” Kylo muttered under his breath, earning himself a slap upside the back of the head from Hux.

“Shut it,” he growled, grabbing his coat and the car keys before Phasma could beat him to it.

“Oh, come on, I wanted to drive!”

“No way, you drive like a madman!”  
\--  
Despite it being the middle of the day, the bar was already bustling with activity, complete with a live band playing music onstage. Hux wasn’t sure he liked the looks of the clientele, but he supposed they had little choice if they wanted to get to that corn maze.

Phasma led him over to the bar, where a couple of bartenders served drinks.

“So where is she?” Hux asked Phasma, his voice low.

“She’ll come to us,” Phasma replied. “She can always tell when someone needs something.”

“Great.”

“Relax, I’ve got this.”

“Then why did I have to come?”

“Because you can talk to people better than any of us.”

“You only _think_ I can…”

They were interrupted as a diminutive old woman approached them, wearing a pair of thick-framed glasses that made her eyes seems owlishly large. Several necklaces hung around her neck, and an assortment of rings and bangles covered her fingers and wrists. She studied the both of them in turn, then reached for a couple of glasses.

“You look like you need something,” she said, and Hux risked a glance at Phasma.

“Two drinks, nothing too strong,” Phasma said. Now Hux was just confused, though a part of him wished Phasma had ordered something a lot stiffer—he had a feeling he was going to need it.

The old woman set about mixing a drink for them, laying out a napkin in front of them, setting the two empty glasses down on top of them.

“And what else?” she prompted, eyes lingering on Hux for an uncomfortably long time.

“We need to find something,” Phasma said. “Or someone. We’re not picky.”

“Everyone seems to be looking for something these days. What is it you seek?”

Phasma nudged Hux under the table, and he felt a brief flicker of panic. He had no idea what he was supposed to say!

“We’re looking for directions,” he started, and when Phasma didn’t reprimand him, he continued. “To an old corn field.”

“Chasing ghost stories, are you?” the old woman said, her expression unreadable. “You sure you know what you’re getting into?”

“It’s just an abandoned corn field and farmhouse,” Hux replied. “Nothing ‘ghostly’ about it.” Of course, that wasn’t to say they wouldn’t hype it up just a bit for their viewership.

“Well, you won’t find it on any map. You’ll need someone to take you there.” She set their drinks in front of them as she spoke, then wiped her hands off with a towel and leaned against the bar while they talked.

“Like…?” Hux prompted, hoping to get a name.

“See that man over there?” she pointed to a thin Scottish man sitting in a corner, playing a card game with three others dressed in red outfits. “Name’s Bala-Tik. Buy him a drink or two and he’ll do anything you want, no questions asked.”

Hux wasn’t sure he liked the implications of that particular statement.

“You can also talk to Ithano over there,” the woman continued, pointing to another patron sitting near a window, talking in low tones to a shorter, stockier companion. “But he might be a bit more difficult to persuade.”

Hux had a feeling that meant ‘he’ll want money,’ and that wasn’t something he nor the others had a good amount of to just throw away on something like this.

“Or you can try ‘Leech.’” She pointed to another patron, this one with longer hair, seated with a group of about five. “He’ll take anything for a bit of cash, but his English is rather limited. Those three options are your best bet.”

“What do you think?” Hux asked Phasma as the old woman moved off to seek out another patron to unsettle.

“Like it or not, I think he’ll be our best bet,” she replied, nodding toward the first man the old woman had pointed out to them. “A couple of drinks are easily affordable.”

“Unless he has an aversion to this cornfield.”

“But he does know how to get there,” Phasma pointed out. “He doesn’t have to take us; he can just tell us where to go.”

“Good point.”

“Go do your thing,” Phasma replied with a sly smile as she took a sip of her drink.

“You owe me _big time_ for this,” Hux growled, downing his drink in one shot and standing up to go talk to the man named Bala-Tik.

 

It took five drinks and two rounds of poker to convince Bala-Tik to take Hux and his group to the cornfield. Bala-Tik wondered why in the world anyone wanted to go to that creepy place, but he couldn’t find it in himself to turn down someone who’d manage to win two games against him. At this point, Hux wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

That Friday afternoon, the four gathered in the bar’s parking lot, along with their ‘camera crew,’ a trio of student filmmakers who had accompanied them on their previous ‘Hauntings’ excursions. They weren’t about to pass up the opportunity to do another one.

The drive, Bala-Tik had warned them, would take about two hours and was going to take them into the middle of nowhere, something they were already well aware of. Mitaka was surprisingly silent the entire time, but he kept casting nervous glances around, as if expecting something to go wrong the instant they left civilization behind.

Bala-Tik dropped them off about half a mile away from the cornfield, claiming that their best bet to reach the field in the shortest amount of time was to go straight instead of following the winding road past the farmhouse. Even so, it was still about half a mile to the cornfield from where they’d been dropped off. By the time they found it, the sun was just beginning to set.

“And… we’re rolling!” their ‘director,’ a woman named Unamo, announced.

“This was a bad idea…” Mitaka said almost instantly—Hux had a feeling he’d been practicing that line just for this occasion.

“Relax, Dopheld, it’s just an abandoned cornfield.”

“Why did it have to be abandoned…?”

“You know, you didn’t have to come,” Hux reminded him.

“Like hell I didn’t! Someone has to make sure we stay alive!”

“And what are you going to do if we encounter any crazed axe-murderers in here?” Kylo snickered. “Whine them to death?” Both Mitaka and Hux glared at him.

“That’s enough, Ren,” Hux said sharply. “Mitaka is here to keep us from getting lost. At least completely…”

“Little late for that…” Kylo said, poking at his phone. “I can’t get a good enough signal to use my map.”

“We can worry about that later,” Hux said, setting off after Phasma, who had already started looking for a way into the maze. “Let’s go find a way in.”

They found a path into the maze several yards away, still looking fairly well maintained and tidy.

“Here we are,” Hux said. “Ready to spend a night in the creepy abandoned corn maze?”

“Hell yeah!” Kylo said, punching a fist into the air. “Let’s go already!”

“Where even are we going, exactly?” Mitaka asked once they were in the corn. “We don’t even know where this thing ends!”

“Does it really matter?” Kylo replied. “Though finding the old farmhouse would be cool…”

“Oh, hell, no,” Mitaka said with a whimper. “It’d be even creepier than this maze, and who knows what lives in there…”

For the first few hours, the maze was quiet, save for the rustling of the dried corn stalks in the wind. Once the sun completely set, it got cooler; Hux was the first to break out his coat, glaring at Kylo when he poked fun at him for resorting to his coat so quickly.

“So what exactly happened here, anyway?” Phasma asked Kylo as they headed deeper into the maze. “You said someone died here. Did you ever find anything out about that?”

“Oh, yeah, I did,” Kylo replied, nodding. “Apparently a group of college kids were dared to stay in the maze overnight as part of a hazing ritual for some club or something. They hid in the maze until it was closed and everyone had gone… then during the night, they ended up getting separated from each other.”

“Worst thing you can do,” Mitaka said with a sage nod.

“We got the point the first time, ‘Phel,” Hux said, wanting to hear more of this story.

“Anyway, throughout the night, they claimed to hear rustling in the corn—rustling that wasn’t them or the wind. Like something else was in there with them. The group eventually met back up with each other, but one member was missing. They went back to look for him… and found his dead body instead.” Once again, Kylo’s voice had taken on a dramatic tone, a borderline sinister glint in his eye as he spoke. “Ohh, it was bad. Whatever had killed him looked like it had ripped or shredded him apart. Like… something with claws.” Kylo curled his hands into claws, even letting out a low growl that made Mitaka jump and nearly walk right on Phasma’s heels. “Someone screamed, then they heard a low snarling from somewhere close by. They never saw what it was—as soon as they heard that snarling, they bolted. They reported it, of course—there was a huge police investigation and everything. All they could figure was that he’d gotten in the path of some wild animal that had somehow wandered into the corn. Naturally, an incident like that was a black mark on the maze’s reputation, and it closed a couple of years later.”

“And what about who owned it?” Hux asked.

“No one knows,” Kylo replied with a shrug. “He cooperated with the police investigation, then when the maze closed, he was nowhere to be seen after that. Some say he died—he was pretty old—and others say he moved. Apparently the legends have been enough to keep people away from here.”

“Except us,” Phasma said.

“Except us,” Kylo replied with a nod. “Maybe we’ll figure out the missing pieces of this story!”

“Hey, wait,” Hux said suddenly, stopping for a moment. “Do you… hear something?”

Mitaka whined, grabbing Phasma’s arm.

“What is it?” she asked, looking around as she listened. There was silence for several moments while they listened and looked around, but there was nothing to be heard or seen.

“Guess it was nothing,” Hux said with a shrug. “Let’s keep going.”

“That’s not funny, Hux,” Mitaka huffed at him, still sticking close to Phasma.

“I wasn’t kidding!” He had heard something, or at least thought he had. Something that most definitely wasn’t them.

Another hour and a half passed with nothing happening. It was completely dark by now, and they’d pulled out flashlights so they could see.

Then Hux heard it again—a rustling in the corn. Like something was moving through it, slowly. Like a predator stalking prey. Despite his best efforts, he felt his heart leap into his throat, willing himself not to look around. Looking around would distract him and cause him to get separated. That was one thing horror movies tended to get right—stay together, and you have safety in numbers.

Get separated, you die.

He swallowed hard and kept his mouth shut.

Then they heard a low snarl.

“Kylo, was that you?” Hux asked. They had stopped again—Hux wasn’t the only one to hear it this time.

“Not me,” Kylo replied, shaking his head.

Hux heard the snarl again, this time coming from a different location.

Great. Whatever was out there was moving.

Or there was more than one…

“We’re not alone out here…” Hux whispered.

“Hux, this isn’t funny—” Mitaka was cut off as a loud growl sounded out very close by, as if whatever was there was standing right there next to them.

One of the cameramen screamed and took off running.

“Thanisson!” Hux called as the young man bolted into the corn. “Thanisson! Dammit! Stay here, I’ll go get him back!” Hux took off after him, ignoring Mitaka as he yelled not to split up—or to say he would be right back.

Even with the flashlights, visibility was limited, especially within the corn itself. Hux lost sight of Thanisson and found himself alone.

Okay, not the smartest decision he’d made tonight. He swallowed and began looking for a path, knowing he had to find one sooner or later…

Then he heard more screaming from within the corn.  
\--  
After Thanisson fled, the other cameraman, Rodinon, was quick to bolt too. Phasma and Mitaka both chased after him, but Mitaka was unable to keep up with her.

This was becoming more and more like a horror movie every minute.

Fortunately for them, Mitaka was pretty genre savvy.

…And he was alone in the corn with whatever was stalking them.

“I’m going to…” he cut himself off before he jinxed himself. “No, can’t say that, it’ll come true.” He reached into his pocket to search for his inhaler but pulled out his phone instead.

Well, that would work.

Feeling a bit of hope, he attempted to call Hux… only to get a dial tone. Confused, he glanced at his phone… and saw the lack of bars. 

“Of course. No signal. Should’ve known…” Shaking his head, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and headed off into the corn to find a familiar face.

He hoped.  
\--  
Kylo and Unamo were left standing where everyone had just been moments ago, trying to process what had just happened.

“Any idea what that was?” Unamo asked Kylo—after all, he was the one who seemed to be most knowledgeable about this particular cornfield.

“Afraid not,” Kylo said, heading off along the path, motioning for her to follow. “Like I said, no one knows what was in the corn that night. For all we know someone’s played an elaborate trick on us.”

“Doesn’t seem likely, though,” she said. “That would require them to know we were coming, and if no one’s come by here since it closed…”

“We can worry about the logistics later. Right now we should just focus on finding everyone else. And not get separated…”

He was beginning to wonder if this corn maze was really ‘abandoned’ after all…  
\--  
Hux found his way back to a path, though now he had no idea where he was or where anyone else was. The corn was quiet for now—no snarling or growling or prowling to be heard.

The silence was both reassuring and unsettling.

He also attempted to call someone, but found his signal nonexistent as well. It wasn’t like they hadn’t been warned about that…

Hux forced himself to keep moving, focusing on a single goal: to find someone. Stopping would mean trouble, he was sure, and he was not about to let his mind get away from him. Panic had caused them to separate in the first place, and he was not about to make this worse.

And dammit all, he was a Hux. A Hux did not panic.

Even so, it didn’t stop him from screaming when something burst out of the corn far too close to him for comfort… or from slamming a fist into whatever it was and preparing to run for it. The only thing that stopped him from carrying out that last part was a high-pitched yelp, followed by a wheeze of a whine that sounded all too familiar.

“Dopheld?” he asked incredulously, kneeling down to help him up.

“Bloody hell, Hux, what was that for!?”

“You scared me!” Hux retorted.

“W—wait… I… _I_ , little skinny Mitaka, scared _you_ , the unflappable Hux?” Despite the pain of being punched right in the diaphragm, he looked rather pleased with himself.

“Don’t let it go to your head. And don’t bring it up, or I’ll leave you to whatever’s out here.” That wiped the grin off his face rather quickly.

“That’s real cold, Hux,” Mitaka pouted.

“What can I say, I’m a coldhearted son of a bitch. Come on, let’s see if we can’t find the others.”

Several minutes later, Hux spotted something lying at the end of the path.

“What is that?” Mitaka asked, squinting at it in the light of Hux’s flashlight.

“I’m not sure,” Hux replied, moving toward it carefully just in case something unpleasant lurked nearby. He didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t a chance he was willing to take.

They got closer… and suddenly Mitaka screamed, before he cut it short by clapping both hands over his mouth. His eyes were wide and already he sounded like he was about to hyperventilate.

Or throw up.

Maybe both.

“S—stay back,” Hux told him, and Mitaka didn’t need to be told twice, though he still tried to stay somewhat close so he wouldn’t be too far from Hux.

Hux shone his light at the figure lying on the ground—or rather, what was left of it. Blood was splattered everywhere, and Hux risked using his foot to roll the body over… and instantly wished he hadn’t.

It was Rodinon. Whatever had gotten him had literally ripped him open in the middle.

He heard Mitaka heave behind him. ‘ _My sentiments exactly_ …’ he thought to himself, forcing himself to get closer to grab Rodinon’s camera. Aside from being splattered with blood, it looked undamaged—maybe he’d gotten a look at whatever had eviscerated him.

“Let’s go,” Hux said once he had the camera in hand.

Mitaka didn’t need to be told twice.  
\--  
It took Phasma several moments to realize she was alone.

“Fuck,” she cursed, wishing she’d kept a closer eye on Mitaka while they’d chased after Rodinon. The man didn’t exactly have a lot of stamina, and certainly not for an extended sprint… and there was no telling where he was now.

She would not allow herself to think he was dead. Not until she found him.

She found her way out of the corn and back onto the path, looking and listening for anything, human or otherwise. A part of her was still convinced this was some sort of elaborate prank, though she thought their camera crew would’ve steeled their nerves by now.

Then again, it was almost a given that one of two of them would bolt before the night was through; every ‘Hauntings’ video they’d done had featured someone running away screaming. Rodinon still hadn’t lived down the day he ran from a steam pipe clattering in the wall.

Phasma allowed herself a chuckle at the thought… which immediately became a surprised yelp as something large and furry leapt out of the corn and tackled her down.

‘ _Wasn’t there some sort of rule about not being distracted_ …?’ she wondered to herself, barely avoiding having her face ripped off as the creature lunged at her. She had no idea what had her pinned—all she knew was that it was large, furry, very heavy, and _extremely_ smelly.

“Dammit, I am _not_ dying today!” She aimed a punch at where she thought it was, and was satisfied when she made contact. The creature yelped and tried to snap at her hand, but Phasma drove her knee up and connected with the middle of the creature’s chest. It attempted to move back, and Phasma took advantage of that to shove it off her and get to her feet. She was completely blind, her flashlight lost (but still close by, she hoped).

It took her several moments to realize it was quiet. Whatever had attacked her had fled. Apparently it hadn’t expected resistance.

If that was the case, then it would be back. With friends.

Phasma didn’t intend to stick around and find out what would happen then. She grabbed a spare flashlight out of her bag and flicked it on, thanking Mitaka that he’d insisted they all carry a spare. She hurried away from the scene… and tripped over something lying in the path.

She grunted as she sprawled to the ground, but she kept a grip on her flashlight this time, using it to look at what she’d tripped over.

Phasma screamed and scooted back, scrambling to her feet.

“Oh, God, why…?” It was Thanisson, poor kid, his neck twisted and obviously broken. She wondered if those deep bite marks had been inflicted before or after his neck had been snapped…

She spotted his camera lying nearby and grabbed it, then took off as fast as she could, wanting to put some distance between her and the body.  
\--  
Hux held up a hand, all senses on alert now after finding Rodinon’s body.

“Wh—what is it?” Mitaka whined, grabbing the back of Hux’s coat and nearly making him jump.

“Don’t do that!” he hissed, shining his light around. He heard rustling again, though it wasn’t accompanied by snarling or growling. Something was approaching, and while it sounded large, it didn’t sound like one of the ‘whatevers’ that was out there…

“W—we should move, Hux—” Mitaka started, only to scream as something burst out of the corn a few feet ahead of them.

“Wait—it’s Phasma!” Hux said, moving towards her. Phasma turned and started, surprised to see them… but relieved at the same time.

“Thank God you two are alright!” she said, wrapping them both up in a bone-crushing hug, not letting go until both men wheezed that she was choking them.

“W—we’re fine…” Hux said, rubbing his abused ribs. “W—we found Rodinon…” Hux swallowed hard; even he had been disgusted by what he’d seen, and that sort of thing didn’t usually bother him so badly.

“And I found Thanisson…” Phasma added, shaking her head. “And I was attacked by whatever we’re dealing with out here.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?” Mitaka gasped, trying to look her over for injuries.

“A little battered and bruised, but I’ll live, ‘Phel,” she assured him. “I don’t think it was expecting me to fight back.”

“Any idea what ‘it’ is?” Hux asked. Any information they could learn was better than nothing.

“I’m afraid not,” Phasma replied with a shake of her head. “All I know is it’s large, very smelly, and furry. That doesn’t exactly narrow things down.”

“No, it doesn’t. We need to find the others and get out of here,” Hux said.

“I—is that a good idea, going after them?” Mitaka asked.

“We can’t leave Kylo and Unamo to become the next victims—if they haven’t already,” Hux replied. “I know, I know, it’s stupid to go back, but we can’t call for help, and even if we could, it would be two hours, if not longer, before it got here. No matter what happens, we _must_ stick together until we find them. One way or another.”

“And if we get attacked?” Phasma asked.

“I don’t think that’ll happen. Remember—this all started because we got separated in the first place. Dopheld, you can gloat about how you were right later. But whatever’s chasing us intended to get us to separate with their initial pattern. For whatever reason, they want us alone before they try taking us out. Let’s just hope they don’t—mmph!” Hux was cut off as Mitaka slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes wide.

“Don’t say it!” he begged. Hux nodded to show he understood.

Right. Don’t jinx it.

“Okay, let’s go. Stay on the path. Stay together,” Hux reminded them, leading the way.  
\--  
At some point, Kylo and Unamo had gotten separated, too. One moment she was behind him, the next moment… she wasn’t. She hadn’t said anything about checking something out, or anything like that. The only thing he could figure was that they had wandered away from each other.

Either way, one or both of them hadn’t been paying attention, that was for sure.

The corn was silent for now, and he was still wondering if this was some sort of prank or if there was some legitimate threat out there.

He would get his answer about five minutes later.

He rounded a bend in the corn and saw something lying on the ground. He headed toward it, feeling his blood start to run cold. He didn’t like the looks of this…

He saw dark splotches on the ground and knelt down to touch one of them. It was a thick liquid, almost black in color. He held it up to his nose and recoiled when he realized what it was.

Blood.

He quickly wiped his fingers on the ground and stood up, moving closer to the figure. Of course, the blood led right to it, and something in his mind screamed ‘BAD IDEA BAD IDEA ABORT ABORT ABORT!’ But he had to see who it was…

His light shone on the blank face of a dark-haired woman, her throat ripped out.

He didn’t get much time to process this, as he heard something snarl loudly and very close by. He whirled around… and screamed out as a white-hot pain lashed across his face. He staggered back, one hand going up to the wound, his own blood hot on his skin.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…!” He couldn’t see out of one eye, and he wasn’t sure if it was because he’d actually been blinded or if it was simply from blood in his eye.

He heard something snarl to his right, and he whirled around to deliver a swift kick to whatever was coming at him. His foot connected with something solid, and he heard a yelp before whatever it was darted off.

Kylo wasted no time in making tracks away from there, attempting to wipe away the blood from his eye so he could see.

He froze when he heard more rustling in the corn, though this time, there was no snarling to go with it. He glanced around and moved forward, one hand still over his wound. He rounded a bend… and let out a scream as he found himself face to face with… with Hux?

“Really, Kylo, I am not that frightening,” Hux said, shining his light up at Kylo’s face. “What the hell happened to you?” He reached up to touch the wound, but Kylo shied away with a hiss; Hux dropped his hand back to his side.

“Well, I found Unamo… and one of the creatures that seems intent on picking us off.”

“Did you see what it was?” Mitaka asked, sounding cautiously hopeful.

“No—kind of hard to see when you’ve got blood in your eye.”

“Don’t be snappish,” Hux scolded. “Well, at least we’re back together. That’s a start. Now we just have to figure out what we’re up against.”

“And, preferably, how to get out of this damn deathtrap,” Phasma put in.

“That too. But first, someone find the first aid kit. We can’t let Kylo wander around with a festering wound.”

“You sure it’s a good idea to stop and sit?” Kylo asked, one eyebrow raised.

“The creatures intend to pick us off one by one. At least, their pattern so far indicates that. If we stay together, we should be safe. Relatively speaking.”

“I think we should keep moving…” Mitaka suggested, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder.

“Fine,” Hux conceded. “But we still can’t let him walk around with a wound that can get infected. Time for some walking medicine.”


End file.
